The James Brothers
Course Description
This immersive summer seminar focuses on comparative readings of the philosopher and
founder of modern psychology, William James, and his novelist-critic brother Henry, who
ushered literary realism into its modernist phase. Comparison throughout between their styles
of thought and prose, with focus on the representation of human psychology in fiction, how
literary aesthetics intersects with the philosophy of mind, how the brothers differently imagine
the relation of language to experience, and the “international theme” which runs through all of
Henry’s fiction (i.e., the drama of “new world” Americans navigating the social complexities of
“old world” Europe). Reading includes a selection of Henry’s major novels and short stories,
selections from William’s Principles of Psychology, Varieties of Religious Experience and
Pragmatism, Henry’s literary critical writing on Hawthorne, Emerson and Flaubert, and two or
three of the remarkable Prefaces he added to the New York edition of his fiction, and the
brothers' lifelong correspondence. Meditation throughout on the relation of philosophy and
literature.
Sunday, June 18, 2023
You`ll be welcomed and meet your professor and fellow alumni scholars for a celebratory meal this evening as we kick off the week and reconnect with the spirit of being students on Yale`s campus! Rising early on Monday, we`ll dive into a daily routine of morning and afternoon seminar sessions organized around our reading list. Guest speakers and special activities will supplement the program of lecture and discussion with Professor Paul Grimstad.
The reading below serves as a guide to the topics we`ll explore:
Required Books
WILLIAM JAMES
William James: Writings 1902 - 1910, Library of America: "Varieties of Religious Experience," "Pragmatism."
William James: Writings 1878–1899, Library of America: "Psychology the Briefer Course"
HENRY JAMES
Washington Square, Penguin Random House, 2013
The Portrait of a Lady, Penguin Random House, 2013
OTHER
Grimstad, Paul, Experience and Experimental Writing, Literary Pragmatism from Emerson to the Jameses
Information Links
- About the Professor
Paul Grimstad is Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Humanities program. He writes regularly for The Believer, Bookforum, London Review of Books, The New Yorker, n+1, The Paris Review, Music and Literature, The New Republic, Times Literary Supplement and other journals and magazines. His “Miles the Mercurial” was a notable selection for Best American Essays of 2021 (ed. Kathryn Schulz). His next book Interested in Everything and Nothing Else: On the Polymath is under advance contract with Princeton University Press.